Thursday, October 30, 2014

Wedding Invitation Suite: Invitation

On Sunday I talked about our Save the Dates and went into all sorts of details about price, design decisions and the internal struggle I had between choosing online invitations and using postage.

Today, I'll share with you our main invitations for our big day.



These were designed by He Saw Sparks, who I found through Etsy.

He Saw Sparks was awesome to work with. They added the chalkboard background for me and I absolutely fell in love with the font! I'm a pretty big snob when it comes to fonts (snob might be too strong of a word, I think picky would fit it best) and ultimately was what won us over on these.
 
 front

back

Before we stuffed 220 of these in envelopes, I rounded the corners with a punch I got from Hobby Lobby.


Didn't Caroline Rentzel Photography do an amazing job? These are some of my favorite pictures from the day!

Let's break down the cost:

Design: $70- $35 for the basic design, $10 for the back design, $15 to change the background to chalkboard, $10 for the extra proof (in case we had any last minute changes...aka insurance for our invites!).

Envelopes: $60.00 for 250 (I'll show these gold, sparkly bad boys off later)

Postage: $115 for 250 Invitations

Printing: $18.98

Total: $263.98


If I were to do things all over again I would have tried to see if I could add a little watercolor floral in the bottom left corner. If I could merge the font of mine with the idea of this invite from Wedding Paper Divas I would be a happy camper.


I also like the idea of the "hand lettered" look that you can get made custom. Rightfully so, that can be a more expensive option. These beauties are done by one of my faves, Shannon Kirsten.


Apparently I still have plenty of ideas. Anyone else out there getting married? We need to chat!

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Wedding Invitation Suite: Save the Dates

One of my favorite things in the whole world is paper....thank you notes, stationary, planners, letterpress, gold foil, birthday cards, scrapbooks and especially invitations! I'm pretty sure that is mostly what my Insta feed is filled with.

 I truly believe that an invitation sets the scene for your guests as to what they should expect from your wedding. I spent HOURS online searching and looking and pricing different invitations from countless resources. I ended up using several different sources for my Invitation Suite, from Etsy and a talented friend.

After adding up everything (design, printing & postage), I still came out cheaper than if I went with one of the (swoon worthy) more expensive sites (ie, Minted or Wedding Paper Divas).

In this Invitation Suite series, I'll talk about what I chose, how much it cost, what I would change (both cost and design) and compare to what I would have gone with at one of the fancier sites.

First, I'll be tackling Save the Dates.

Design:

 front (picture by Julian Mancha Photography)
back

Envelopes, created on Vistaprint

These were designed by my friend Keith, who I have previously bragged about great of a gift giver he is, and this Dr Who Terrarium I made him. I told him the wording I liked and the design we were looking for and he brought these back! He's awesome. The wording was from a Save the Date I saw on Minted. Hilarious. I really wanted to set a fun tone for our wedding, and what better way then this super cute saying?

Cost:

Design: Keith technically did these for us for free, but we compensated him a little for his work. So, with what we paid him, plus printing* and postage, we paid $181.88.
Design - $33
*Printing + Envelopes - $33.88
Postage -  $115

Postage is insane. Seriously. I mulled around using a site like Paperlesspost for all my invitation needs, but in the long run its hard to beat good ol postage - it's just expensive as all get out! This would be an easy cost cutting area though.

*We bought a few groupons for Vistaprint that we used. At the end of this series, I'll do a total cost break down and what coupons we used.

Our Save the Dates were perfect. I seriously wouldn't change a thing about them! If I were to choose a different one, it would for sure have gold foil. Like this one from Wedding Paper Divas.


One thing to keep in mind when shopping for invitations, save the dates, Christmas cards, etc. is to try not to focus too much on the picture that is in the sample. Although, I'm pretty sure if I were to use this card I would recreate the picture used. I mean...Edison light bulbs in a tree? Are you kidding?!? Nothing could be more perfect. Anyways, I'll find myself drawn to a design (or worse, deterred from a design) because of the picture used. You have to remember that it will be your picture in the space, making the card yours, and perfect. 

On a budget? Wedding Chicks (ya know...that awesome site that featured OUR WEDDING?) offers a ton of freebies! These save the dates are adorable. Hello, watercolor!


That way you would only be out for printing and postage. I do want to learn how to print my own invitations and still have them look professional. I just need to break down and buy a really nice printer....one day. 

That's a wrap for our Save the Dates! Next I'll do a breakdown on our main invitation. 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Fried PB&J



This past weekend we went to the Texas State Fair. Actually, we went to the OU/Texas game, and to get to the game, you have to go to the fair...if that gives you any clue as to my feelings on going to the fair :)

After the game Hil and I decided we needed some fair food, so we were on the hunt for some fried goodness! Hil had Fried PB&J on her mind and after walking & fighting the crowd we finally found where they were being sold. Only with a line that looked to be an hour long wait...Pass!  Like I said, we are not fair people. So we darted (see what I did there?) to the Dart station to head home, feeling kind of bummed that we didn't get to experience any fair food. So we decided to make it ourselves! The whole way home I was looking up different recipes, reading reviews, etc. 

FYI- not much out there in the "fried PB&J" world. So, I decided to use this Monte Cristo recipe and use a PB&J sandwich instead of ham and cheese.

Here is what you'll need: 
  • quart of oil
  • 2/3 cup of water
  • 1 egg
  • 2/3 cup of flour
  • 1 3/4 tsp of baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 8 slices of white bread
  • peanut butter
  • jelly
  • bananas
  • powdered sugar
1.  Heat 5 inches of oil in a deep-fryer to 365 degrees F (180 degrees C). While oil is heating, make the batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg and water. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk into the egg mixture until smooth. Set aside in the refrigerator.


2.  Make 4 peanut butter and banana sandwiches (we used the jelly as our 'dipping' sauce) and cut sandwiches into quarters. We thought the bread was too thick, so I suggest squishing the sandwich down a bit and secure it with toothpicks. 

3. Dip each sandwich quarter in the batter so that all sides are coated. Deep fry in the hot oil until golden brown on all sides. Remove toothpicks and arrange on a serving tray. Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.


We thought they turned out pretty good....but honestly I'm sure the fair's was better. It for sure satisfied our craving though!


Overall fun weekend and I got some AWESOME shopping finds that I'll share later!Here are a few more pics of me and the seesters!


Me and Hil, taking a Dart selfie.


Hannah, Molly and me at the game. Can you tell which are hairdressers/makeup artists and who is not? :)


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